Once touted as the early frontrunner for the Democrat gubernatorial nomination in Ohio, Washington D.C. Bureaucrat Richard Cordray now faces a tough fight to win his party’s primary. As a new poll last week showed Cordray tied with former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Ohio political experts have soured on his chances, agreeing that this race “will go down to the wire.” With little over a month until Democrats choose their nominee, Cordray faces growing difficulty to unite his party around his struggling campaign. Here are some highlights of recent coverage:
In response to the latest poll, University of Akron political scientist John C. Green told the Washington Times that the race “will go down to the wire” after Cordray had previously been the early favorite:
The poll also found that Mr. Cordray, who was President Obama’s highly visible and highly polarizing choice to be the first head of the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Mr. Kucinich were locked in a neck-and-neck battle on the Democratic side, with each pulling in 21 percent of the vote and with 46 percent of likely Democratic primary vote are still up for grabs.
‘At the moment I think it will go down to the wire,’ said John C. Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron. ‘Cordray sort of was the early favorite, but I think the race is really competitive right now.'”
Baldwin-Wallace University political analyst Tom Sutton spoke on Cordray’s struggles, noting “Cordray doesn’t really play well on the campaign trail. He’s kind of a dry presence:”
“’When Dennis Kucinich first announced I said ‘don’t underestimate Dennis when it comes to campaigns,’’ [analyst Tom] Sutton said of the fact that polls show the race as tight.
‘You have to understand Dennis is a populist,’ Sutton said, ‘in contrast, Richard Cordray doesn’t really play well on the campaign trail. He’s kind of a dry presence, he’s got money, establishment but that’s not necessarily going to make it for him particularly because for the Democrats there is the Progressive wing that’s forming and will that wing turn out strong? If they do likely they are turning out for Dennis Kucinich and that could tip the race his way. Could be a big surprise,’ Sutton said.”
Ohio political experts David Niven and Herb Asher said to the Cincinnati Enquirer that Kucinich “could pull off the upset victory,” giving Cordray a tough fight for the final month of the race for the Democrat primary:
“Laugh all you want, but Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders wannabes like Kucinich have to be taken seriously in this crazy, post-2016 political world – and a new poll shows voters seem to be doing that. Kucinich and establishment favorite Richard Cordray are tied with six weeks left until the May 8 primary, each garnering 21 percent in SurveyUSA.com‘s poll.
It raises the question: Can Kucinich actually win the Democratic nomination?
Ohio political experts David Niven and Herb Asher told Politics Extra that Kucinich could pull off the upset victory…”
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